The Impending Return of Mark Sanford?

Scandal-plagued or not, South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford reportedly isn't willing to concede that his political career is over.

The Washington Post has piece stating that South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham's vote for Elena Kagan pretty much guarantees that he will have a credible Republican primary challenge in 2014, when he's next up for reelection. That isn't big news.

Given some of the stands he's taken and given the state he represents, I was actually quite surprised that Graham didn't have a strong primary challenge in 2008. I wouldn't be the first person to say that it's more likely that has a new job by 2014 or runs as an independent (or even a Democrat) or simply retires than that he runs again as a Republican -- I don't see how he could win.

However, the Post story did include an interesting tidbit when it listed possible opponents for Graham:

* Mark Sanford: Yes, that Mark Sanford. The soon-to-be-former governor has made clear to political insiders that he is interested in a return to politics and targeting Graham in 2014 might give Sanford enough time to rehab his badly damaged image.

I think Sanford's fundamental problem in making a comeback wouldn't be that he had an affair or that he traveled to Argentina without letting people in South Carolina know where he was. It would be that he wasn't a popular governor even before he did those things.

One reason Republicans are angry at Graham is his on-again, off-again support for cap-and-trade. So, it's also worth noting that Sanford's views on climate change are quite moderate in the context of the 2010 Republican Party.